Sunday, 19 March 2017

A tale of two penalties

It seems after the game Southampton fans were looking for excuses and blamed the referee but in reality, they struggled to get past our midfield and had to play long balls towards Shane Long which all amounted to nothing. At one point he even had to chase his own header and that tells you all you need to know really.

You could argue two penalty decisions decided the game. The first was clever play by Dele Alli, he got to the ball first and with the Southampton players leg out he made sure he went over it instantly. All agreed there was no doubt it was a penalty, even the player who gave it away wasn't complaining. In the game today they are nearly always given.

The second nobody thought was a penalty until they saw the replays. Even all the experts working for Sky didn't think it was a penalty in real time. The problem was the Southampton player didn't go down immediately, had he done so he might have got the decision. Instead, he took a step forward and then decided to go down.

Like it or not, you have to practice these things in the modern game and you gave to almost put on a show for the referee. You can't be theatrical about it but you have got to ensure there is contact and immediately hit the deck. It is an art and while Spurs were the better side, they were better in the two decisive moments of the game.